Napalm Death Announce 'Apex Predator - Easy Meat'

While the sonic assault of Napalm Death may not be fit for the London museum scene, the UK grind gods are thankfully ready to give the rest of us a new album titled Apex Predator - Easy Meat.

Century Media confirmed today (October 30) that the follow-up to 2012's Utilitarian lands in North America January 27 and a day earlier in the UK.

A statement from longtime frontman Barney Greenway explained that the album was inspired by the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh last year, which claimed the lives of 1,129 people and injured over 2,500. With many of the dead having been workers from textile companies, ordered to work despite concerns of the building's safety, Greenway decided to take a look at the brutality of modern-day slave labour.

"Some in power like to declare that slavery is consigned to the history books. But if you look beneath the surface it is alive and well in many different forms — it just has a different face now, and exists in ways that may seem ethically ambiguous," he said in a statement. "Using the terminology of evolution particularly interests us, so in this case the 'Apex Predator' represents those who bring the slavery to bear (and capitalize from it), and the 'Easy Meat' is of therefore those who feel they have no option but to comply."

Though a tracklisting has yet to pop up for the platter, Greenway added that, in light of both the album's theme and the outfit's general approach, Apex Predator - Easy Meat is "punishing."

"We feel it's more ambient, more expansive, more unsettlingly discordant than ever, and importantly, still extremely rampant at excessive speed," Greenway said. "We hope in every respect — both musically and lyrically — this album will make your eyes burn with the harsh sonics and harsh visions of the dumping ground of globalization."